to an extent. the Pres and VP of the club owns a bike shop, which is one of our "sponsors". before they opened the shop, one of them worked at a LBS that was a cannondale shop. cdale was the frame sponsor for our club. they painted up a club specific caad9 then caad10 for us, and it was sold at a pretty palatable price for club members and provided free to elite team members. the new bike shop is not a cdale dealer. we were encouraged to purchase a new team frame in a brand that is sold in the new shop. since the cdale frame was free and the new one is not, it created a bit of contention.

same situation for helments, pedals, and wheels. we're sponsored by specific manufacturers and incentivised to purchase from those sponsors through the lbs. since all are good products and the discounts are nice, it's actually not a bad thing.